T5SC project honey badger
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Authors
Ander, Justin
Gomez, Gabriel
Haralson, Justin
Johnson, Zachary
Martin, Rus
Issue Date
2014
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
Information technology management
Alternative Title
Abstract
National University has been a prominent player in higher education since the early seventies and has yet to offer official identification cards to students in the way that more traditional universities do. A few National University locations have offered their own variations on ID cards ranging between laminated paper cards, trimmed to size, to actual PVC cards.
What T5SC is proposing is the implementation of a centralized ID card system that would offer a consistent, professional looking ID card to any student that wishes to obtain one. The cards proposed will have an integrated RFID chip. While few facilities currently utilize RFID technology for entering facilities or checking into computer labs, it will be conducive to future growth as NU continues to expand technologically. In the event that any facility decides to upgrade it RFID readers, the unique identifying card infrastructure will already be in place for more advanced access controls.
The addition of a centralized database and SOAR integration that includes identifying pictures of students, staff and faculty would provide additional key advantages to the university. Advisors would be able to look up the students that they have appointments with and greet them on sight by name. Also, in the event of a hostile student making threats against the university, that student’s picture will be available for distribution to other centers in the area. While the latter scenario is uncommon, it is not unheard of and has thus far been limited to vague, inconsistent text descriptions of the problem student.
Though this program would not have an immediate financial benefit for the university, it will do a great deal in terms of increasing security and visibility for the university and will build a strong foundation to implement more advanced, and potentially profitable ID card related programs going forward. Beyond that, the card itself gives the students a variety of discount benefits on things like movies, gym memberships and software. It will also dispel a certain sense of unprofessionalism that is associated with the current patchwork Identification card system.
T5SC has made initial cost estimates based on a limited number of existing students choosing to participate in the program within the first year (7,000) and an employee rollout of three thousand cards. Based on this, the initial cost estimate of the program for the first year will be roughly $16,656.80. Ongoing hardware costs will include blank RFID cards, toner and regular maintenance for the ID card printers. Including consumables and maintenance, the estimated costs are $0.66 per card after the first year. These estimates are based on the assumption that RFID cards will be used. PVC cards would have more limited future applications but would cost slightly less initially ($15,818.30) and per student after that ($0.58).